Portola cuts energy usage by nearly 30 percent

NAPERVILLE, ILL. — Portola Packaging Inc. says its North American facilities reduced energy usage by almost 30 percent and recycled about 9 million pounds of material over the past three years.

The results are part of Portola’s efforts to improve efficiency and to promote environmental stewardship.

“Ultimately, our objective is to create upstream processes which utilize material in the most efficient way possible. By doing so, there is less need to recycle on the back end. We also believe in partnering with our customers and communities to help make that happen,” said President and CEO Kevin Kwilinski, in a news release.

The energy conservation efforts included more than 20 initiatives across all eight North American plants. These included efforts to locate and reduce heat and air losses, corrugated case redesign to maximize cube footprint, installing higher efficiency compressors and decommissioning less efficient equipment.